The Samsung SIR-T151 HDTV Tuner is made for Digital Ready TVs!
by - Written: Nov 29 '02 (Updated Jul 14 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: You can view High Definition Quality from a TV antenna!
Cons: There are not enough TV stations HDTV ready yet!
The Bottom Line: If you have TV stations in your area broadcasting in High Definition, then a TV antenna and this tuner will give you digital satellite quality.
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| surferdude7's Full Review: Samsung (SIR-T151) |
The Samsung SIR-T151 HDTV Tuner is made for the use of a TV antenna and is not made to work over cable or a satellite. You will also need a TV antenna that is digital ready. Bottom Line is if you are not going to get your HDTV over a TV antenna then you have no use for a HDTV tuner. HDTV ready TVs should be able to pickup HDTV broadcasts from cable and a satellite if they broadcast it without an HDTV Tuner.
This tuner is made for over the air broadcasts in HDTV (High Definition TV) of your local TV stations. DTV (Digital TV) has two formats, SDTV and HDTV.
SDTV
Standard Definition TV has formats of 480-lines interlace (480i) and 480-line progressive (480p) video. The 480i are the digital versions of today’s analog broadcasts and the 480p offers improved image details over the 480i. A progressive DVD player will play your DVDs in 480p for better quality and for Widescreen presentation.
HDTV
High Definition TV has the formats of 1080i and 720p with better quality than SDTV and is broadcast in Widescreen.
The Samsung SIR-T151 HDTV Tuner
This is such a versatile HDTV Tuner with the ability to pickup 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound that many HDTV stations are broadcasting. There is a Digital audio out for a fiber optic cable to your receiver for a 5.1 surround sound.
This tuner offers you 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i, there is a switch in the back to make your selection. Also in the back are the connections for your TV and a receiver. If your TV has the component video connections then use the supplied 10 foot cable and if not there is an S-video connection. (S-video cable not supplied.) Then you need to make an audio connection, they supply the RCA cables for connecting them from the tuner to the TV. The other audio option is using a fiber optic cable (Not Supplied) to your TV if it has an input or to a receiver. The only thing left is to connect a HDTV antenna in the back.
The tuner is in a silver color with a few buttons in the front in case you don’t want to use the remote. There is a power on/off button, next to it is a green light that comes on when an HDTV channel is locked in. The other buttons are for controlling the channels and on screen menu.
The Remote
The remote is a programmable remote for your basics like a TV, VCR and DVD player. It is a nice looking cream-colored remote that takes two AA batteries included.
The buttons are large enough where you don’t hit two at a time and the remote is easy to navigate. The remote is handy when you want to go to the on screen menu system to make adjustments. With the tuner you have to make basic adjustments the first time like what is your screen size? 4 x 3 or 16 x 9!
With the remote you can add or delete the stations manually for you preference.
I use this remote only when I use the tuner.
Antenna
You need an antenna that is capable of receiving HDTV reception. While most UHF antennas will work, some won’t. I went with the Radio Shack VU-190 antenna that is VHF/UHF/FM and HDTV ready for $59.
Here is a link by Terk who makes antennas that will show you the correct antenna for your area by color-coding. This is a very helpful site whether you buy their antenna or just need some information.
http://www.terk.com/tv/antwebframe.html
Check out the CHANNEL MASTER REMOTE CONTROL ROTATOR if you need a wireless way to turn an antenna.
Overall
The Samsung SIR-T151 HDTV Tuner works great with picture quality as good as the little satellite dishes. You either get a good picture or no picture at all. You can use the menu and there is a place for checking the strength of the signal from the TV station very similar to that of checking it on a satellite dish.
A Rotator is also very handy because the HDTV signal isn’t as wide as your usual VHU/UHF signals so you need a way to tune in the strength. I purchased the Channel Master Model 9521A with a wireless remote making it easy to turn the antenna.
Also to boost up the strength I purchased the best antenna amplifier that Radio Shack had on hand. My results for HDTV channels are limited but I did pick up our local PBS channel and the PBS channel in Louisville Kentucky about 50 miles from my house crystal clear. One thing I did notice is that when you do pick up a channel there are four channels to pick from of the same channel. Example our local PBS station is channel 43 so you can bring up 43-1, 43-2, 43-3 or 43-4. Now 43-1 is the only one with a picture on it, I assume the other is for broadcasting something like different languages or video formats.
One of the Louisville channels WHAS (ABC) is HDTV ready but I haven’t been able to pick it up yet. The reasons being I am told is they are not broadcasting all the time and when they do broadcast they are not using full power as of now. Another Louisville Channel WAVE (NBC) is scheduled for December 15th of this year and WLKY (CBS) is scheduled for January 31, 2003.
Another thing to get use to is the channel numbers, WHAS goes by channel 11 and in HDTV it is channel 55. WAVE is channel 3 on HDTV it is channel 47 and WLKY is channel 32 on HDTV it is channel 26. So I have lived here most of my life knowing by hart 3, 11, & 32, now I have to get use to 55, 47 and 26.
Once all stations are up and running it will be time to cancel my basic cable, which has poor quality, in comparison to the HDTV broadcasts.
The Samsung SIR-T151 HDTV Tuner is what the future has to come, all I have to do now is wait for it! Unless it is changed all stations have to be HDTV ready by 2006 and 5 years later the old format for broadcasting will be dropped.
The tuner listed for $449 but I talked them down to $200 since I was buying a 73-inch Mitsubishi TV from them. If you buy a Widescreen HD ready TV then that is the best time to buy a tuner if you ever think you are going to use a TV antenna. Just think the TV I bought with a tuner built-in would have cost me an additional $3000, so the $200 tuner is a bargain.
It has a one year warranty so I registered it on line, the next day they thanked me for the registration and said for registering it they extended my warranty an extra three months.
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Recommended:
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